Tri-Cultural Festival in Balboa Park : Dance: Sunday’s performances will focus on three countries--Mexico, Spain and the Philippines.

Cultural expressions from Mexico, Spain and the Philippines will be vividly displayed Sunday under the umbrella of the Tri-Cultural Music and Dance Festival at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.

A four-hour marathon of music and dance will feature ethnic foods along with nonstop live entertainment--all designed to highlight historical ties among the three ethnic groups.

During its 20-year history, the cultural center has focused on Chicano culture, especially the arts of Mexico. But Sunday’s concert, scheduled to run from 2 to 6 p.m. at the center’s Balboa Park facility, will be its first foray into the art forms of the Philippines.

“Our mission is to preserve Mexican culture, but we like to think up ways to collaborate with other colorful cultures,” said Eloise De Leon, Performing Arts Coordinator for the center.

Lolita Carter, founder of the Samahan Philippine Dance Company, conceived and coordinated the event to celebrate what she called “a common heritage.”

“You know, the Philippines and Mexico were both part of Spain at the same time,” Carter said. “Both were colonized in 1521. Of course, there are differences, but the Filipinos are very Spanish in their music and dances, and their food and customs are very similar. I wanted to explore our common heritage in this festival.

“I asked Carlos Santoyo (director of the Mexican Folklorico troupe) and Carla Herredia (leader of the Spanish-flavored flamenco ensemble) to participate, because you have to bring in Mexican and flamenco dance when you (focus) on the common links between Mexican and Philippine dance,” she said.

“The Mexicans borrowed a lot from us, and vice versa,” Carter said. “That was inevitable since the Philippines were governed from Mexico, and there was a lot of trade exchange between Acapulco and Manila. When you see the dances side by side, you will notice these shared roots.”

Carter organized the festival to showcase that common artistic ancestry, but she also wanted to provide a broader cultural context for the ethnic dance and music. She invited Rizalino Oades, a history professor at San Diego State University, to introduce the event with a historical overview of the colonization of Mexico and the Philippines. In addition, the artistic directors of each group will talk about their art before the performances.

“I will be speaking about the connection between the Philippines and Mexico--links that go back almost three centuries,” Oades said. “Since the Philippines were governed by Spain through Mexico, there was not just an exchange of goods between the two peoples, there was also a lot of intermarriage between them. In fact, some Philippine towns were even named after Mexican places. And Philippine seamen were probably the first Asian settlers of North America.”

The Philippine dancers assimilated the graceful curve of their port de bras from the Spanish conquerors, for example, while the Spanish influence in Mexican dance is more pronounced in the fancy footwork, Carter said.

“There’s a lot of similarity in the arms between Spanish and Philippine dance forms,” Carter said. “The Mexicans aren’t concerned about the arms very much, but they use a lot more of the foot tapping than we do. Even in Philippine dance, however, there is a little tapping” based on the lightning-fast heel claps that characterize flamenco dance.

Philippine dance is actually a melting pot of styles that draw on kinetic expressions from Indonesia, Bali and Malaysia. But for this tri-cultural celebration, Carter’s 10-member company will concentrate on dances rooted in Spanish culture.

The Samahan troupe will bring its own live musical accompaniment--the Philippine Rondalla, a small string orchestra--and a singer. Unfortunately, due to funding shortfalls, the Mexican dances will be accompanied by recorded mariachi music.

Santoyo’s folklorico group was formed at Chula Vista’s Castle Park High School in 1975, and they perform a range of Latino dances around town. For Sunday, Santoyo chose a suite of six strongly Spanish dances from the region of Jalisco.

“We wear charro costumes, derivatives of what the Spaniards wore. The indigenous people were not allowed to ride horses, so wearing charro suits was considered a status symbol.”

The dances reflect Spanish courting customs, as well, Santoyo explained.

Dancers “don’t hold each other, because the etiquette does not allow it. They only hold each other by the eyes,” he said. “One of the main differences is the posture and the way feelings are expressed. The Spaniards were upright and rigid. The Mexicans show more enjoyment in their dancing. The Mexicans even transformed the instruments and rhythmic structure” of Spanish music.

Although the festival participants have prepared an assortment of ethnic dances, they are all convinced that the value of the daylong event will transcend mere entertainment.

“If this festival is successful, we’re hoping to do another one next year,” Carter said. “The Philippines and Mexicans are the two biggest minority groups in San Diego. There are about 150,000 Filipinos in the county. Only the Mexicans are larger.”